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Turkish contagion sends rand back over R15/$

The rand reached its lowest level in more than two years on Monday morning before recovering slightly as the Turkish lira dragged down emerging-market currencies

13 August 2018 - 06:50
Robert Laing

Picture: REUTERS

The rand plunged more than 8% alongside the Turkish lira on Monday morning, reaching R15.41 to the dollar at about 2.30am.

The South African currency was last weaker than R15/$ in June 2016.

The rand managed to claw its way back under R15 by 6.20am, trading at R14.75 to the dollar.

The rand fell to R17.41 to the euro, recovering to R16.78/€, and R19.49 to the pound, recovering to R18.81/£ at 6.20am.

GRAPH: The rand's movement overnight

Reuters reported the Turkish lira pulled back from a record low of 7.24 to the dollar early on Monday morning to trade at about 6.80 after finance minister Berat Albayrak said Turkey would start implementing an economic action plan on Monday.

Other emerging-market currencies to suffer from the lira’s plunge included the Indian rupee which slid to a record trough, while the Indonesian rupiah hit its lowest in almost three years, prompting intervention from the country’s central bank.

The emerging market currency rout rattled Asian markets, with Tokyo’s Topix down more than 2%.

In Hong Kong, Naspers’s main investment, Tencent, was down 2.3% to HK$36.40, indicating that the JSE is likely to join the global rout.

In Sydney, BHP was down 1.25% to A$33.30, contributing to a 0.6% drop in the ASX 200 index.

Local analysts have reacted to the rand's plunge on Twitter.

Rand went above 15.30 at one stage. Now 14.77. Turkey and USA and trump and tarrifs again. We should be used to this. Again we must remember lessons from the past. When rand tanks do not panic. Fair value is below 14 and the rand will return there again. May hit 15 first again!!@

After a restless night worrying about Arsenal, woken up to a rand at 14.80, yes 14.80, against dollar, all on back of Turkish contagion. That’s a 5% dip. Equities generally retreating. Platinum also off. Not a great start to day.